We’ve lived in the state of Colorado for 11 years now. We truly love it here. We’ve always been aware of droughts and wildfires. We both grew up in the Western U.S. And we did our research when we purchased our land 6 years ago. Last summer was our first full-time summer here. It was very wet. In fact, it rained every day in the afternoon all summer long. No problem with wildfires. It never crossed our minds. Now, it’s only May, no moisture and we’ve got a 1500+ acre wildfire burning just to the southeast of us. Like hurricanes, they name these fires. This is called, “The High Park Fire 2022”. It’s way too close for comfort. It really wakes you up. Talk about death anxiety and death denial, huh? We can still smell the fire and see the smoke. We’ve set our 26’ trailer house up and have been getting it prepared for evacuation. We can live comfortably in that for 2 weeks. I hope we never have the need, but it might be a long summer for wildfires here.
Collodion dry plate negative (white paper behind) and Platinum Palladium print (cropped). I’m looking at light here - I made this negative at about 0930 in the morning. I exposed for the shadow side of the tree. I like the heavy contrast and the way the tree is rendered. I like the shadows, especially of the limb in the foreground. I look at these like paintings. I also find the perspective interesting. I cut the print down to fit the scene. It looks great in the hand, I really like it.
Our mountain road is closed. They evacuated the people that live just to the south of us and for some reason, closed our mountain road off. We can come and go as we please, but you need to prove that you live on the mountain. Jeanne and I haven’t been off the mountain since the fire started. We have no need. We’re self-contained and can go for 2 weeks, or more, at a time without ever leaving our property.
Yesterday, I threw on the camera backpack (f/64 backpack) and grabbed some collodion dry plates and we headed up to our rock outcroppings on our land. It’s a treasure trove of interesting images. We found three “lightning trees” - trees that had been struck by lightning, burned, and died. Remember, we’re at almost 9,000 feet. In fact, where these trees are is 9,000 feet above sea level. From what I can see on our property, there’s never been a major fire here.
Collodion dry plate negative of “The Lightning Tree”. May 16, 2022 - Navajo Mountain.
I wanted to continue to play with the 90mm wide-angle lens. So I picked a tree and made this image. The negative is great. The lens does vignette at f/8 on the edges. I don’t mind. In fact, I ended up cutting the print to a square and it looks great. The theme of fire and nature is a constant now. I made a few plates and tried to juxtapose the old dead “lightning trees” with new, baby Ponderosa Pines that are growing in the rock outcroppings.
I made some Platinum Palladium prints, some Kallitype prints, and my first Oil print on Glass of this work. I got the first coat of brown inked on. I’ll let it dry and swell and ink again with some black ink for contrast.
Kallitype print, platinum toned. A small Ponderosa Pine emerging from a big rock. I know the digital snap doesn’t really translate that well, but gives you an idea. Kallitypes are really beautiful. The subtle detail you can get is really gorgeous.
Platinum Palladium print. Cascading rocks and dead fall trees. The perspective and texture is very appealing to me in this image. The way the lens draws your eye up to the tiny tree in the distance is really beautiful. The texture of the rocks are great too.
The first coat of dark brown ink. I’ll let this dry and then swell the gelatin again and ink it up with some black, it will add contrast, This is on a sheet of 10” x 12” x 2.5mm glass.
Swollen gelatin on glass - the matrix inked up.
Oil print on glass - backed with a piece of white paper. Fist pass with dark brown ink.